About FIVE

Five is New American cuisine, with contemporary style. An original downtown Berkeley gathering spot, where you can experience great diversity of people, food, wine, and spirits in a striking, yet familiar setting.

What a disappointed this place was. Certainly no 4.1 * place. Burger was very blah, Burger King equal, the eggs benedict was over cooked and eggs were hard, the potatoes were boring and bland. Service was pathetic. Servers would be around but never look at your table if you needed anything. Too many other good places in Berkeley, you don't need to waste your time on this one. Maybe the hotel is fine, don't know, never stayed there but the menu and quality of food was very poor during our brunch. And this was for Sunday brunch. You'd think this is they best time. Servers did not seem to meet up to the standards you would expect at this standards

My department was overall pleased with everything. The food was good a few dishes could've used a little more salt or a little more pepper but overall we enjoyed our dining experience. the ambiance was lovely not too overdone just the right touches to make it look and feel festive for the holiday season and the noise level was relatively quiet which was perfect for having conversations.

We like the convenience to Berkeley Rep and the ambiance but the salads (lettuce) were bitter and the salad dressings bland. Our 4 entries were also just so-so. My shrimp/scallop dish had no distinctive flavors. I would only come back for the convenience and the quiet dining room near the theatre but not for the food specifically.

The steak was cooked perfect. The ham was dry, the mashed potatoes were set and the Brussel sprouts were under cooked. They took our order and brought out our first course before we even had our drinks brought. The whole dinner felt as if we were being rushed through it.

Overall, an excellent place for Thanksgiving dinner. Service was superb. Being the lone vegetarian, I had a less than excellent meal. Mushroom/filo dish was not interesting. The others enjoyed their turkey meals. Generous portions of sides.

We went for Thanksgiving, and I had the turkey entree. It was boring, and the white meat was tough and dry. The sides were boring- how is it possible to mess up Brussels sprouts and bacon? The mashers tasted like they were instant potatoes goosed with a little butter. Dessert was boring- two pieces of dry chocolate cake with a delicious milk chocolate mousse inside, with a brilliant raspberry jam on top. On the whole, it tasted like a mediocre B-level catered wedding event. Definitely NOT worth $67.

Was looking forward to a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with my 2 friends. I have heard good things about their Sunday Brunch and was anticipating the same for our dinner. The place did not feel festive, the food was just okay, brussels sprout were undercooked. Last but not least not worth the $284 for 3 people. We only had 1 glass of wine and 3 coffees besides the fix menu of $69 for the dinner. That averages $95 per person. Very over priced for not excellent food!

I had the $17.00 Gourmet Five Burger, medium rare. It was terrible. The consistency was of the beef was similar to grainy cardboard and despite the savory ingredients, it was truly tasteless. My colleagues both had benedicts and frankly they were "ok", but nothing special. The service was uninformed and poor. My colleague asked for coffee with lots of room for milk; it came filled to the brim with out any room. He asked the server to re-pour the cup and it came back pretty much the same way. He was prepared to give up, but we tried one more time, this time with success. My colleague then asked if the bacon on the benedict was Canadian bacon? The server didn't know and didn't offer to find out. So, he changed to smoked salmon. Admittedly, we were seated at 12:45 and the closing time is 1:00 so perhaps the staff was already mentally checked out, but no-one came to check on our meals or refill our coffee and water. On a positive note, the space is wonderful. But, I'm not sure I'd go back.

Salmon was annihilated Waiter understood we were headed to a 8pm show & promised we'd make itSat at 6pm, had an 8pm show. Ordered at 620pmFood arrived at 715pm.All meals were way over cooked & Luke warm

The menu was very limited with three meat options (all variants on burgers, fried chicken or beef) and only one meal (vegetarian risotto) that didn't require using your hands. The soup was good, as was the risotto (an extremely generous portion).

My avocado toast was just right - light and tasty. My friend's shrimp salad - a new dish - was overwhelmed by the buckwheat or pasta or whatever her noodles or doughy things were. Wayyyy too much of that. This was an exception to my usual experience here which has been excellent food in a gracious setting with lovely service and reasonable prices.

The place is amazingly quiet and pleasant. It's almost never too crowded and the wait staff is uniformly gracious and accomodating. It is a pleasure to eat here.

Unfortunately, the service was terrible. Our waiter knew we were trying to make an 8 pm show and our food arrived extremely late. We were informed at one point it was being plated, which was not true because we were still kept waiting. By the time we received our food I had to take mine to go. No apologies were made and we didn’t receive our theater discount and there was no time to wait. This has been our to go theater restaurant but not sure going forward.

This was my third visit. Consistently delicious food and attentive service in a beautiful space where you don't have to shout to have a conversation. Good wine list and solid cocktails. Great for dinner before a show at Berkeley Rep.

Tags: Good for a Date, Bar Seating, Romantic, Pre/post Theatre, Special Occasion, Quiet Conversation, Fit for Foodies, Good for Anniversaries

Sorry to say both our dinners had little or no spice and were very bland. My scallops and shrimp were the only tasty item of the dish. Chocolate cake very good. Chicken. Was very moist but no flavor lentils a look so very bland

I had the duck salad and was surprised that it contained duck jerky. I had expected duck breast.Also had the summer squash as a side. I had had it earlier this summer and it was much more interesting....but we will be back.

The quality of the food varied between good and very good, and presentation was nice. It was easy to talk, though there was background noise. Staff were friendly and attentive, if not always present exactly when you might like. I am sure we will return.

We were attending the Berkeley Rep and this was one of the restaurants listed as being nearby and also being supportive of the rep. We are thrilled to have chosen it. And we will return. Food was inventive and delicious. Prices were reasonable fore the quality of the food. Service was very good as well. And an added attraction is that if you show them tickets for that day's Rep performance, they knock 10% off of the bill.

Luckily we've been to Five a number of times before or we might not go back. I had the fixed prix fried chicken special. Everything was very salty and I couldn't even eat the greens or mashed potatoes. One piece of chicken was a little dry and the other wasn't cooked. The only thing really good was the peach cobbler. They took the chicken off the bill. The cavatini was like gnocchi. Overall disappointing and not up to their usual standards.

Servers were very pleasant and accommodating. However, they seemed to be understaffed--did not refill water, coffee, etc. Food was very slow coming out of the kitchen. My overall impression was that the restaurant was understaffed.

Tags: Sunday Lunch, Good for Birthdays, Pre/post Theatre, Afternoon Coffee, Great for Brunch, Quiet Conversation, Neighborhood Gem, Great for Lunch

Went there after Berkeley Rep which is 2 blocks away. Dining room is very light and airy. Menu is very interesting and all of our dishes were excellent . Good experience except all 4 meals were not served at once: 2 of us had to wait and the salads were not dressed with enough dressing.

I really like this restaurant and enjoy the food, ambiance, and service (usually). On this visit we met friends there pre a Berkeley Rep performance. The food was very good, but something was wrong with the service and the kitchen, as several of our meals came out with missing parts and service was unusually slow. Not sure if it was due to how busy the place was or not.

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